12 Ways to Reduce Cart Abandonment
Twelve practical fixes across costs, checkout, trust and follow-up.
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Key takeaways
- Great photos and clear descriptions replace the in-store experience.
- Show price, delivery, returns and stock before shoppers have to ask.
- Genuine reviews are among the strongest trust signals you have.
- Unique product copy and structured data help pages rank and stand out.
Why product pages matter so much
Your product page is where the buying decision happens. Shoppers can't touch, try or ask a sales assistant, so the page has to answer every question and remove every doubt. Following proven product page best practices is often the quickest way to increase sales without spending more on traffic.
1. Photos and video
- Several high-quality images: the product on a clean background, from different angles, in use, and with close-ups of details.
- Scale and context: show the product being worn, held or used so people understand its size.
- Short videos for products where movement, fit or texture matters.
- Fast loading: compressed, correctly sized images in modern formats.
- Descriptive alt text for accessibility and image search.
2. Titles and descriptions
- Clear titles that include what the product is, plus key attributes such as brand, size or colour.
- Benefits first, then features: explain what the product does for the customer.
- Scannable details: dimensions, materials, care instructions and compatibility in a tidy list or table.
- Unique copy: rewrite manufacturer descriptions, which appear on many other sites.
- Answer common questions directly on the page, using what customers ask your team.
Read your returns reasons. If people return a product because "it was smaller than expected", that's a gap in your description or photos. Fix it on the page.
3. Price, delivery and returns
Unexpected costs are one of the main reasons shoppers abandon their carts. Show the full picture on the product page:
- The price, including VAT, with any savings shown honestly.
- Delivery options, costs and realistic delivery dates.
- Your returns policy in plain English, with a link to the details.
- Stock status, and back-in-stock alerts for sold-out items.
- Payment options, including any buy now, pay later services you offer.
4. Reviews and trust
- Product reviews with star ratings, photos from customers and the ability to sort or filter.
- Reply to reviews, especially critical ones. Our guide on replying to negative reviews shows how.
- Guarantees and warranties stated clearly.
- Secure payment and easy-to-find contact details.
Only show genuine reviews. Fake reviews, hiding negative ones or showing incentivised reviews without saying so are banned under the UK's DMCC Act 2024.
5. The add-to-basket area
- A prominent, high-contrast add-to-basket button, visible without scrolling on mobile.
- Clear variant selectors for size and colour, with unavailable options marked.
- A sticky add-to-basket bar on long mobile pages.
- Relevant cross-sells and bundles, without cluttering the page.
Find what's holding sales backOur CRO audit includes heatmaps and 20 prioritised fixes.
Get a free proposal 6. Product page SEO
- Unique title tags and meta descriptions for each product.
- Product structured data with price, availability and reviews, so results can show rich details.
- Clean URLs and correct canonical tags for variants.
- Internal links from category pages and related products.
- Sensible handling of discontinued products: redirect to the closest alternative or keep the page with clear alternatives.
For the bigger picture, see our ecommerce SEO guide.
Test, don't guess
Every store is different. Use analytics and heatmaps to see where people drop off, then test changes one at a time. Our A/B testing guide explains how to run fair tests. As a guide, our CRO audit, with heatmaps and 20 prioritised fixes, costs £650 as a one-off.
Product page FAQs
How long should a product description be?
Long enough to answer every question a shopper has before buying. Simple products may need a few lines; technical or expensive products need much more detail.
How many product photos should I use?
Enough to show the product from every important angle, in use and in detail. For most products that's several images plus, where useful, a short video.
Should I use the manufacturer's description?
Use it as a source of facts, but write your own copy. Unique descriptions help you stand out to shoppers and search engines.
Do reviews really affect sales?
Yes. Genuine reviews, including some critical ones, reassure shoppers that the product and your store are trustworthy.
The bottom line
Product page best practices come down to answering every question before it's asked: great photos, clear copy, upfront price, delivery and returns, genuine reviews and an obvious next step. Add solid SEO, then test and improve continuously.